


Tou no Hime (Princess of the East)

by Anonymous



Series: The Blossoms of Time [8]
Category: Sengoku Jidai | Sengoku Period RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-04-18 02:45:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4689500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Born a commoner and taken in as a noble Lady Azai Hitoko had everything she could ever wish for. Though her adoptive mother, the adored Oichi no Kata and sister of Oda Nobunaga, isn't pleased with one aspect of her daughter's life. Her friendship with the ashigaru, particulary Todo Takatora and Genjirou Yoshimitsu. Yet things will just never last now, will they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

"Have you heard anata?" Asked Masako, her tired brown eyes all of a sudden lighting up, "the Azai want a commoner for a daughter."  
“My dear, I believe you have misheard” Sojiro replied, patting his wife's head as he went round to sit on the other side of the table.  
“I did not” Masako frowned, “it was shouted about the town while I was shopping, it is not something one of my friends you so despise told me. Anyway, the Shrine Priestess did say she was to live a greater life than we could give her.”  
“My dear, if I believed anything that particular old bat said I'd have to call myself insane. Now lets be done with this and eat” he snapped.

Yet Masako had no wish to listen to her husband, she wanted her daughter to have a good life, not to break her back on the common land planting and farming rice.

Who would want that for her daughter? Who _would_ want that for their child? A madman perhaps, but Masako was certainly not one of those. However, she was certainly clever enough to be considered a madwoman. She didn't take her daughter, Hamako, that night, but instead went into town three more times in a row.

Each day she heard the call, the demand for a daughter for Hisamasa, and finally on the fourth day she took her husband with her. As they walked he repeatedly called her a liar, and said that she was only doing this so she may have someone to carry the load for her.  
“Oh what are they yelling about now” he whined as they walked to the main square.  
“Listen and you might find out” Masako replied, not exactly happy with the accusations that her husband had been making. He took her advice and listened.  
“Azai Hisamasa-dono wishes for a daughter to raise of common birth!” Called the bell that told the news.

Bested and feeling insulted Sojiro gave in, yet did his best to persuade his wife otherwise.  
“But we were the ones who brought her into this world, why should we give her away to be raised by something else” he attempted. She cut him down,  
“It is not our duty to raise her simply because we brought her into this world. It is because of that we do what's best for her.”  So, they did just that, what they thought was best.


	2. Writing

“What's the Princess doing here?” Asked a voice. Azai Hitoko jumped and spun around to see a young and definitely new ashigaru. Actually he was the same age as her but that didn't matter, she was more bothered as to how he had managed to follow her so far without her noticing.  
“Were you following me” she snapped, after all he may well not have been. The fourteen year old princess was hardly pleased about it either way and gave the ashigaru a stony glare.  
“No, no, just passing by” he answered, grinning at her. Hitoko frowned at him, as if she believed that.

The ashigaru was a very tall boy, towering over Hitoko – who was tall for her age according to her mother, Oichi no Kata. He had messy black hair that fell about his face which seemed to be getting in his eyes, even though most of it was kept back by a white cloth acting as a headband. His clothes were a little ragged and weathered yes but they were hardly what a normal peasant would have to wear. On the back a family crest was messily stitched, perhaps by a mother or elder sister. Yet it was none of this that actually caught Hitoko's attention. Not even the cheeky grin on his face had her staring. It was his eyes.

She couldn't help but stare as they became apparent in the glistening summer sun. So deep, as if you could fall in and never return if you looked too long. Hitoko had never seen anyone with those kind of eyes, it was a foreigner's trait and this boy was certainly no foreigner or even half. Hitoko had never seen a peach foreigner anyway, she had only ever seen Yasuke, Oda-dono's guard but his skin was not white, it was brown. Yet here, stood before the Azai Princess was an ocean eyed boy with a cheeky glint in his dark blue eyes.

“What are you staring at?” He snapped, his eyes seeming to darken as he frowned at her. He then gave a cocky laugh as he realised.  
“What, my eyes? You never seen any that colour before?” Hitoko shook her head and then blushed,  
“I...” yet she stopped trying. What use was answering when you didn't know how? He went back to his grin and started saying something but was cut off.

“Taka! Where are you?! Takatora!” Shouted a voice. The boy, Takatora, went scarlet and mumbled,  
“Does he have to?” Hitoko turned in the direction of the voice and saw another ashigaru rushing over. He dived at Takatora and knocked him to the ground completely intentionally, getting them more funny looks than Hitoko was particularly comfortable with.  
“Get off me Yoshimitsu!” Takatora yelled and he hit the other boy non too gently. Yoshimitsu gave a yelp and jumped up, going a little red as Takatora got, giving him a foul looking glare.

Yoshimitsu looked how Hitoko was used to. His hair was black, currently at a rather dodgy looking shoulder length. His eyes were a very dark brown, almond shape and childish. He was much smaller than Takatora, hardly standing at Hitoko's height. Yoshimitsu was also looking rather bashful, having realised who Hitoko was. He bowed to her and started,  
“I'm sorry Hime-sama, I di-” However Hitoko grabbed his shoulders, stood him up straight and hissed,  
“Shhhh” at him. He pulled a very innocent and rather confused look,   
“No one's supposed to know it's me” Hitoko muttered, “you've drawn enough attention to yourself and me already.”  
She quickly slipped out of the main street and down a small alley by a meat stall. The two ashigaru continued to follow her, glancing cautiously behind them again and again.  
“What are you doing just wandering down an alley?” Takatora asked, grabbing her arm, afraid to let her go any futher.  
“My parents live down here” Hitoko answered, yanking her arm away from him and then adding through gritted teeth as they once again carried on following her, “Go. Away.”  
“Aren't your parents Nagamasa-sama and Oichi-sama?” Yoshimitsu asked, that same innocently confused look on his face.  
“They're my adoptive parents, now go away” Hitoko answered. The two of the took a step back as she turned around and glared at them with full force. Hitoko shook her head and quickly made her way down the alley.

She continued on her way, turning right then left and then right again. She kept checking to make sure no one was following her, especially not the two ashigaru. She just wanted to see her parents and it had spiralled off into this? Perhaps she had been a little too rude, no doubt they'd go and report it now and Chichi-ue would send an entire army after her. Oh well, she was almost there now, it wouldn't take a huge chunk of time out of how long she would be able to stay with them.

“Mama? Papa?” She called, knocking on their wonky door. Her mother, Masako, opened the door a crack and the one eye Hitoko could see went wide. She then tore open the door and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. She then called,  
“Sojiro! Sojiro! Hamako's here!” From outside came a big man with thick arms and legs and a massive smile. He picked the girl up and swung her round before sitting her on his shoulder, her head almost touching the roof.  
“Look at how much our baby has grown” he laughed, lifting her down.  
Hitoko ate with her parents, even though she had been given a meal before she'd left. To eat her mother's cooking was a blessing from the heavens. It wasn't much but it was enough to warm the heart more than any big meal could.   
“So, what's aristocracy life like for our little girl then?” Masako asked, a big grin on her face.   
“It's...hard...there's so many rules” Hitoko sighed.   
“You have friends, don't you?” Sojiro asked, reaching across and stroking his daughter's hair gently, his whole hand having to rest on her tiny head. She nodded,  
“I'm not allowed to be friends with them though. They're just the ashigaru in training.” 

This was a lie, even they weren't her friends – they had just been the ones who had followed her today. She hadn't liked them and they hadn't liked her she was sure. The boy with the blue eyes was too rude and the clumsy one, well his name gave everything away. Having friends wasn't easy, they were never proper enough for Oichi's liking, or too materialistic for Hitoko's. It was just impossible to manage.

Hitoko went home alone, the two ashigaru had disappeared and she wandered up the hill alone. She passed the three retainer children, they were from different families, one of them was even from the north. Two boys and a girl, their names were difficult to remember but that wasn't why she thought of them. She watched them, chasing each other about and the girl pushed the chubbier boy from the north when he tried to catch her. They laughed the whole time...if only Hitoko had that too.

“Where have you been?!” Oichi snapped when Hitoko opened the door to her room, expecting there to be no one there.  
“Haha-ue?” Hitoko replied in her surprise, “I was...erm...I.”  
“If you were with those commoner girls again” Oichi began.  
“No! No, I wasn't” Hitoko answered quickly, holding her hands up out of instinct and looking rather scared. Oichi made a “hmph” sound,  
“I suppose I'll let it go this once. Entertain yourself.” She then got up and left.

Hitoko glared at her back and then left, she didn't want to be confined to her room, it might have to be tidied or she may have to do sewing, both tasks were much hated. Today's air was fresh anyway, why waste it? She disappeared into a very small collection of trees not fair from the retainer's children and sat, just watching the sky. The endless birds, back and fourth, back and fourth, always happy, always singing. Occasionally she'd be disturbed by the three children, bursting into fits of laughter from time to time.

“You jealous?” Asked a voice. Hitoko jumped and looked down,  
“Oh, you again” she sighed, rolling her eyes.  
“No wonder you don't have any friends” he said, pulling himself up the tree, “you're pretty mean.” He sat himself beside her and looked out to the sky as she had been doing.  
“If you've come here just tell me I'm mean” Hitoko started. The boy shook his head,  
“Birds are worth more than telling some noble lady she's a bitch.”

They sat in awkward silence for a while, just watching the bird, shuffling a little – both were waiting for the other to say something. Surprisingly Hitoko went first,  
“What's your name anyway?”  
“You didn't hear Yoshimitsu yelling it for all to hear?” He laughed, “never mind, it's Toudou Takatora. I'm from the village with the same name, if you're wondering.”  
“I've been there” Hitoko smiled, “it's a very pretty little village.” Takatora smiled a little, maybe she wasn't as bad as he thought.

“So, where were you going when we found you?” Takatora asked, “I'm quite the forgetful type.”  
“I suppose it didn't sound all too believable” Hitoko sighed, “I was going to see my parents, it's been a couple of years since I've been able to sneak out undetected.”  
“You miss them then?” He asked, something of a sympathetic look on his face.  
“They gave me to Hisamasa when I was a baby” Hitoko explained, looking at her knees, “I've only met them a handful of times.” 

“Hey!” Yelled a voice.  
“Way to ruin the moment” Takatora sighed, he then looked down, “what's up Yoshimitsu?”  
“I thought you said you didn't like her” Yoshimitsu called up, looking rather confused.  
“Me and my big mouth” Takatora muttered, he then climbed down and snapped, “first impressions can be wrong you know.” Hitoko climbed down as well, curiosity getting the better of her. Yoshimitsu went a very odd shade of red when he saw her,  
“M-m-my lady” he stuttered out, looking more like a beetroot than a person.   
“You don't have to call me that” Hitoko laughed awkwardly, “I don't care much for titles, realistically I'm just a peasant girl.” 

Takatora decided to keep her with them and led Hitoko, by the hand, to his and Yoshimitsu's spot so to speak. It's where they came when things were too much, or they just didn't want to be spotted.   
“Why are you taking me here if it's so important to you?” Hitoko asked, understandably surprised.   
“I've got a hunch” was all Yoshimitsu said while Takatora didn't answer.  
“A hunch about what?” Hitoko asked as she was dragged along the path, not quite able to match Takatora's speed,  
“You'll see, time will tell.”

The place was very peaceful and quiet, tucked away a little deeper into the patches of trees that could be found behind the castle as the hill it was on started to slope downwards. The two ashigaru were very prepared, they had a stolen mat hidden in a tree to sit on and a large collection of ink, brushes, paper and books. They hadn't struck Hitoko as the academic types, but she stood very much corrected. 

“I suppose you didn't see us as being the type to read and write, we are peasants” Takatora remarked, but he looked rather pleased with the look of wonderment on the noble lady's face.  
“Neither can I, save for a few symbols” Hitoko sighed, “I can't even write my own name in Kanji.”  
“How come?” Yoshimitsu asked, rolling out some of the paper and putting stones on the corners so it stayed put.   
“Women aren't allowed to learn Kanji, we have our system of Hiragana but that's it, and it's not all that useful when it comes to actually writing” Hitoko explained.  
“We'll find something for you!” Yoshimitsu grinned, “maybe you should ask what it means, if not we'll make up something nice.”

Hitoko broke into a massive smile – this was the happiest she'd felt in...well ever. There were times when things had been brought to her that had made her smile like this, or when her favourite sweet was made for her. Nothing had ever felt like this before.  
“Look at her smile” Takatora laughed. He got up and, while she thanked Yoshimitsu, crept up behind her and started tickling her. She screamed with laughter and eventually fell to the floor, wriggling about as he continued, despite her pleas for him to stop. 

She spent the rest of the afternoon with the two ashigaru, much to the annoyance of Oichi. However it didn't stop there, it became regular for her to join them after lunch until it became a daily thing. They helped her sneak into the village to see her parents, taught her kanji while trying to find some for her name and just kept her happy in general. In return she would bring various things for them – new books to read, mochi, which they both loved, and things to keep their papers and ink stocked up. 

Upon overhearing something from the retainer children the three even snook out at night and slept with each other under thick blankets in their hidden place. Hitoko would always been the middle, snuggled between Yoshimitsu on her left and Takatora on her right. They talked about the stars and made up stories, mixed with their own myths and legends. Yoshimitsu would write them down when the sun rose and then they would make their way home, as if nothing had ever happened. Those stories, laughs and giggles had definitely happened, and were to stay locked away in their memories for ever. 

Things were great.

“My name just means person” Hitoko sighed, having finally remembered to ask.  
“What does the Ko mean then?” Yoshimitsu asked, rather confused, “the only thing I can think of is child, but person child doesn't really make much sense for a name.”  
“She asked Oichi-sama, she probably isn't right, like Hitoko she probably can't read all that well” Takatora pointed out, “but something else is the matter.”

He crawled over and pushed his face right up close to hers while she looked away, feeling her cheeks colour.  
“Someone's done something, what is it?” He asked, not moving. Hitoko didn't answer, just bit her lip harder and harder.   
“Hitoko” he hissed, “tell me. Has someone done something to you?!”   
“Takatora, stop it, you're scaring her” Yoshimitsu tried to intervene. Takatora ignored him and grabbed her arm,  
“Tell. Me. Now.” 

“Azai have broken their alliance with Oda.”


End file.
